


in sanguine veritas

by Esperata



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Batcat (hinted), Blood Loss, Gang Violence, Gotham City Sirens, M/M, Riddlebird - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21942667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esperata/pseuds/Esperata
Summary: A quiet girls' night out takes an unexpected turn for Harley, Ivy and Selina as they get caught up in a shoot out at the Iceberg Lounge.
Relationships: Oswald Cobblepot/Edward Nygma
Comments: 13
Kudos: 92





	in sanguine veritas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merryandrew](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merryandrew/gifts).



> I was determined to get this prompt done by the end of the year.

Selina hadn’t wanted to come. It wasn’t that she was currently on the run from the law, simply that when she wasn’t scouting for marks she preferred to curl up cosy indoors where she was available for her cats coming and going. Her current housemates however _were_ on the run from the law and if she didn’t want to be dragged down with them then it seemed best to chaperone them.

At least their chosen venue was relatively safe for the criminal elite of Gotham.

Harley had chosen it because she’d wanted to see the animals and Ivy had agreed to it because it was almost exclusively the one place where she wouldn’t be bothered with unwanted attention. Selina would admit that, as venues went, they could have done a lot worse than choosing the Iceberg Lounge.

“Hey Selina! Come look at the penguins!”

“No thank you.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not exactly a fan.”

Harley bounced on her toes alongside the table.

“Why not? I mean, they like fish, cats like fish.” She held each hand out palm up as if balancing two identical options.

“Because they’re _birds_ ,” Selina explained with waning patience. “Cats _eat_ birds.”

“Aw but they’re cute!” She finally plopped down into her seat. “You like ‘em don’t you Red?”

“Given the choice between cats and birds, I do prefer birds,” Ivy concurred. “A lot of plants rely on bird species to pollinate them or spread their seeds. Not penguins however.” She gazed somewhat balefully towards the birds secure in their icy enclosure.

“They don’t do any harm though,” Harley pointed out. “Aren’t any plants in Antarctica _for_ them to harm.”

Selina was about to suggest getting them all more drinks, if only to escape this particular conversation, when a disturbance distracted everyone. At first she wasn’t entirely sure what the commotion was about because although it was a frequent enough occurrence to encounter a hold up in Gotham it was practically unheard of in the Penguin’s joint. The sound of gunfire however was unmistakeable.

“Typical,” Ivy grumbled as she downed the last of her drink. “The one night we want to relax in peace and quiet and some idiot decides to challenge the Penguin.”

Selina was inclined to agree, especially with the idiot part, but Harley was quicker on the uptake.

“And they might actually have succeeded. Look!”

The other two women turned to see where she was looking and saw a sight none of them would have expected. Oswald Cobblepot was laid out upon his own stage, a clear blood stain showing on his pristine white shirt.

“Oh no!” Ivy growled, an angry determination steeling her tone. “No-one’s taking out the old bird under _my_ watch. Harley, Selina, I’ll teach these upstarts some manners. You get him outside in case they sneak past to finish the job.”

Even before she’d finished talking she’d stood up, immediately drawing the attention of everyone in the place, and every plant was suddenly rushing out from their pot bound existence to do her bidding. Selina turned to query the wisdom of this plan with Harley only to find the clown girl already hurrying over to the stage. So, with a sigh of exasperation, she ducked low and followed suit.

Casting a brief glance to the rest of the room she could see utter chaos had ensued as Ivy rather incautiously unleashed her green army upon anyone in her sight. From her own vantage point though Catwoman could see a few members of the presumptuous gang cowering over by the maȋtre d’ lectern. It was easy to guess what their frantic arguing was about.

She turned back to her own immediate problem. Harley was busy both assessing Penguin’s wound and chattering away to him.

“It ain’t hit anything vital,” she was concluding.

“It hit _me_ ,” he groaned in clear irritation. “That’s pretty vital!”

Harley patted his hand where it was pressed firmly to his bleeding wound.

“You’ll be alright,” –Selina caught the anxious flicker in her eyes before she could hide it– “but we gotta get you out of here.”

As Oswald began to shift with a clear indication of standing, Selina held him firmly in place.

“Oh no you don’t. You’ll only put more pressure on the wound that way.” She cast a resigned glance to Harley. “We’ll carry you.”

Harley grinned gratefully at her. Oswald however didn’t appear so sanguine.

“You two mere slips? I doubt you could lift one of my legs between you.”

“You wanna bet?” Harley shifted herself to grasp under his shoulders while Selina went and grabbed the aforementioned legs. “I’ll have you know we’re a lot stronger than we look.”

So saying they hoisted him up. He let out a sound that was part squawk of surprise and part hiss of pain. Neither commented as they focused on getting him out the side door of the club. Luckily it was a route every major criminal in Gotham had learnt and would likely be unrecognisable if any of his attackers did manage to circumnavigate Ivy’s defence. By the time they reached her specially adapted car, neither had enough puff left to gloat however. Unnaturally strong they might be but Penguin was by no means a feather weight.

Though, having manoeuvred him into the backseat, it was clear he was fighting back waves of pain and was in no state to appreciate their display of strength. The movement, although necessary, had pulled at his injury causing even more blood to flow. It was obvious he needed medical attention fast.

“Should we-” Selina began to say, glancing to the driving seat, before Ivy barrelled out the door behind them and swung herself in.

“Red?” Harley queried anxiously.

Ivy had powered up the car with a frustrated grimace before she answered the implicit question.

“They came prepared, I’ll give them that. Damn brutes had a flame thrower.”

As the car burst out of the alley and swerved through the traffic, Selina couldn’t help but look back at the club, half expecting to see it on fire. What she saw was more immediately worrying.

“Damn. They had back up outside too.”

Ivy glanced in her mirrors and grit her teeth as she saw the car swinging itself into pursuit.

“Then shall I suggest we play hard to get ladies?”

○

Batman surveyed the scene, trying to unravel not only what had happened but why and most importantly how he could bring the perpetrators to justice. There had been reports of gunshots and clearly Poison Ivy had been involved. No-one else had an MO for turning people into instant plant food. Yet why would she be targeting the Iceberg Lounge? And if Penguin’s goons had been in the firefight with her, where was their boss now? And where was she?

Before he could seek answers for these questions the door from the kitchens flew open. Instinctively he retreated to the shadows before even recognizing the intruder although he was instantly recognizable. No-one else in Gotham would even think about wearing such a striking shade of green.

“Oswald? Ozzie!”

The man barely glanced at the figures suspended in their botanical tombs before belting up the staircase to the empty offices upstairs. Seconds later he came rushing back out, still casting his frantic gaze around. It was then that he apparently saw something from his new vantage point.

Batman stayed concealed as Riddler practically skidded across to the stage. He could just about see him dip his fingers into something there – probably blood given his reaction – and then turn his gaze away to the side. Instants later he was hurrying on the trail he’d discovered and out through a door Batman had not previously noticed.

Without any hesitation, he set off in pursuit. It would be far easier to find Penguin, and presumably therefore Ivy, by following Ed than attempting his own analysis. Clearly the Riddler was also somehow involved with tonight’s events and therefore he would have some knowledge about one or other of the participants. Which merely left the added question of _how_ he was involved.

◔

“RED!” Harley sounded genuinely pissed off at this point as their car lurched alarmingly around another tight curve. “Are you trying to kill us before we even get to the hospital?!”

“No.” Ivy by contrast sounded deathly focused. “Although I believe we _will_ be killed if we go there.”

Selina turned her gaze from where she’d been watching Harley do her best to apply pressure to the wound and glanced questioningly at Ivy.

“You mean even if we lose our tail, they’ll just turn up there anyway?”

“Exactly.” She grimaced. “I don’t know what he did to piss them off but they do seem unusually tenacious. I doubt they’ll stop for hospital niceties.”

“They were… flooding the market with bad drugs,” Oswald huffed, eyes remaining tightly shut against the pain still. “Not good for… business. I… shut them down. Permanently.”

Selina rolled her eyes.

“This is what happens when you do a good deed apparently.”

“Guys,” Harley interrupted again. “We don’t have time for this. Os needs treatment to stop the bleeding.”

“On it,” Ivy suddenly declared, almost turning the car a full 180 as she guided them around an intersection.

On the backseat Harley braced one leg against the window to prevent her toppling over her patient. Selina checked their pursuer briefly before assessing their new direction. She frowned slightly.

“You’re heading to the park?”

“The park has two major advantages for us,” Ivy explained. “One, I can get flora that will work as well, if not better, than pharmaceutical drugs to ease the pain and the bleeding. Two, if they follow us in there I can _guarantee_ they won’t be coming back out.”

“Works for me,” Harley chimed in.

Selina looked back again at Oswald. He’d never had a very healthy complexion but it was beginning to look positively waxy now. There were beads of sweat gathering on his forehead and for the first time she really realised how much pain he must be in. Somehow she’d always expected Penguin to be the type to complain vigorously when discomforted. Apparently though he could be surprisingly stoic.

“Alright girls,” Ivy announced. “Hang on. We’re going in.”

Without any further warning the little car bounced off the road and onto the grass, racing for the tree line. The sudden change of direction bought them some more time and it was a few seconds before Selina saw the other car follow them. Then Ivy turned off their headlamps as they disappeared beneath the heavy boughs. The experience of driving full pelt in utter darkness was one of the most terrifying Selina could remember but Ivy exuded sheer confidence in her surroundings. None of them spoke though, almost as if they feared their hunters would hear them even over the racket of the vehicle cracking through dead wood.

Which all made the sudden silence as she stopped the car that much louder.

“Wait here.”

As Ivy got out, Selina couldn’t help but fold her arms in annoyance.

“Who made her the boss?”

“I think the plants did.” Harley sounded distracted. “We’re in her realm now.”

The irritation faded as Selina turned again to watch Harley doing her best to staunch the flow of blood. It was at times like this she was suddenly reminded of the promising medical student Harley had once been.

“How’s he doing?”

“Not good. I can’t get the blood to stop and eventually he’ll go into shock. If he isn’t already.” She glanced up to where the mighty Penguin was breathing shallowly and still had his eyes closed. “Oswald? Don’t go to sleep on me, ya hear?”

“Yes,” he muttered. “Just… resting my eyes.”

A sound made Selina prick up her ears and she swiveled about trying to place the direction it was coming from. It was unmistakably a car and in these surroundings that could only mean their pursuers. She almost jumped as the back door suddenly got pulled open and Ivy leaned in.

“Harley? Pack this over the wound and get him to swallow these seeds if you can. That should keep him with us a while longer. Selina? Switch seats and drive.”

“What are you going to be doing?” she retorted even as she began clambering across.

Ivy smiled grimly.

“I’ll be making sure these fools never threaten my friends again.”

With that the door slammed shut and she disappeared once again into the trees. Selina threw one last look back to her passengers.

“Ready to go?”

Harley had the mossy poultice pressed tight to his side and was using her other hand to drop the pips into Oswald’s gaping mouth.

“Yeah. To the hospital,” she demanded. “And step on it.”

◑

It had taken Batman a little while to deduce what path Riddler was following. He’d had to switch through a few frequencies on his lenses before registering the unique carbon emissions of Ivy’s bio-car. Rather unsurprisingly their route had eventually turned towards the park and Batman had almost gone ahead to cut him off. Some gut instinct held him back however.

Instead of driving into the park, Nygma had circumnavigated it and then headed off in another direction. Apparently, her car had only passed through before heading off again.

Batman briefly wondered if that meant Penguin had gained the upper hand and abducted Ivy in her own car. While it seemed unlikely anyone could catch her off guard in her territory he supposed it was possible. After all, she had obviously caught him unawares in his own club.

He was no closer understanding tonight’s events. Alfred had been in communication from the Batcave where he was running algorithms to see if any of the three villain’s recent activities showed any overlap. There seemed to be no reason for any of them to be attacking the other right now. If anything he would have expected the reverse.

Some digging through said recent activities had shown Ivy and Penguin were currently collaborating on a botanical aviary for scientists to study endangered species of birds and flora. Had there been a falling out over it? Some conflict over prioritizing resources perhaps?

And what about Riddler? He had no connection to that venture. All the computer could turn up was an increased frequency of sightings reported in social media of him visiting the Iceberg Lounge. Nothing particular untoward in any of them though.

Whatever the truth was though, he’d have his answers once they reached the end of this particular treasure hunt.

◕

“Uh Cat? How much further?”

Selina risked a look backwards since the traffic was slowing her down. What she saw almost made her laugh it looked so absurd. Oswald had managed to catch Harley in his arms and was cuddling her like a lifesize doll.

“Not far,” she confirmed, stifling a grin and turning back to watch the road, albeit with frequent glances into the mirror. Harley was clearly trying to extricate herself but was hampered by her unwillingness to hurt her oblivious hugger.

She finally managed to free one arm and began pulling herself away. A most undignified whine left Penguin’s mouth as his face fell into a ridiculous pout.

“Eddie?” he muttered drowsily.

“Did he say Edie?” Selina asked in puzzlement as she tried to place the name.

On the seat behind, Harley had managed to prop herself beyond his weakly reaching hands and was staring speculatively down at him.

“No,” she answered slowly. “He said ‘Eddie’.”

“Eddie?” The repetition was instinctive. “As in Edward? _Nygma_?” Her eyes met Quinn’s in the mirror and she saw the other woman nod almost seriously.

Then her eyes turned back to the road and she realized the vehicle in front was stationary. Swiftly she slammed her foot on the brake and heard a startled yelp behind her.

“Hhmm,” Oswald mumbled. “Yes. Come back to bed darling.”

As Selina looked back again she could see the sudden jerk of the car stopping had unbalanced Harley and dropped her back into Penguin’s embrace. The horrified expression on her face as his hands drifted improperly low broke Selina’s composure and she began giggling. That only got worse as she stole another look and saw that he was now trying to press kisses to the side of her face. It was hard to say what was hindering him more; her squirming or his own befuddled state.

“Urgh. What was in those seeds Ivy gave me?” she groused.

“I don’t know but it looks like he’s having fun.”

Harley raised herself high enough to effectively glare at her but then her eyes widened in alarm at something beyond the windscreen. Selina turned and cursed under her breath.

They were within sight of the hospital but between them and the entrance was a group quite obviously waiting for their arrival. You didn’t survive to be renowned rogues without learning to spot such obvious dangers.

“Who’d have thought they had the intelligence to organize themselves this well huh?” Harley quickly surveyed the small group while Selina subtly pulled up a little way away.

“Got any ideas?”

“Yeah, I got one.” There was a pause as she released herself again from Oswald’s grabbing hands. “I get out there, cause a distraction, and you get him into the hospital. Alright?”

She didn’t even wait for Selina to acknowledge her before almost tumbling herself out of the car and weaving her way across the road. Selina found her eyes flickering between her slim figure and the still oblivious vigilance of the men waiting. Then, to her utmost astonishment, Harley bounced herself up onto a car bonnet and yelled at the top of her lungs, “Hey Red! Wait for me!”

Then she jumped off and darted into an alleyway. Like clockwork the group stationed on lookout for them moved after her, darting between traffic in their hurry to follow. Selina grinned to herself and swung the car back out into the flow of cars to the hospital. She didn’t bother finding a parking spot but simply drew up outside and called, “I need some help here. Gunshot wound.”

Almost immediately she had a team of medically trained personnel rushing to assist her getting Oswald out and into the building. His eyes fluttered open as they heaved him onto a stretcher and he glanced about frantically.

“Eddie? Where’s Eddie?”

“Shush.” She found herself holding his hand as he was taken inside. “Eddie will be here soon. Let’s get you cleaned up for him shall we?”

His eyes fell shut and his head fell back even as he nodded acquiescence.

●

Batman had chosen an optimal vantage point from which he could see straight into the Penguin’s private hospital room. Earlier he’d eavesdropped on the conversation before realising it was intensely private and tactfully switching off his receiver. Now he was merely waiting for the figure he’d spotted earlier to make herself known and fill in the missing gaps.

It was strange to see how intimate Riddler and Penguin had become without his realising. There was no denying the distress apparent when Edward had been awaiting Oswald’s return from theatre. Nor could he deny the tenderness of the pair now, as Nygma ran his fingers through the sleeping man’s hair. At least that solved the puzzle of what Riddler had been doing chasing down Penguin tonight. He’d been concerned for his lover.

“Did you know they were intimate?” he asked aloud.

From a shadow behind him Selina stepped forward to share the view.

“No. Although I’m not as surprised as I would have expected.”

He nodded at that, sharing her sense of it being a realisation rather than a revelation.

“Care to fill me in on what happened tonight?”

There was a pause while she settled herself, comfortably leaning and watching the doting figure of Riddler in the distance.

“It seems a small time gang wanted to get even with Penguin after he shut down their drug trade.”

“Competition?” Batman enquired sharply.

She shot him a filthy look.

“Oswald tries to keep the Lounge clean. It isn’t good PR if it becomes known as a drug den.”

Batman let that matter drop for now.

“And how did you and Ivy get involved?”

“We were having a girls’ night out if you must know. Ivy helped stop him bleeding out and took care of the men with guns. I’d have thought you might appreciate that.”

He pursed his lips.

“I don’t approve of her methods.” His eyes lingered on the touching sight in the room opposite again. “Although I appreciate she was at least trying to help.”

Selina too couldn’t help but watch the other couple.

“She likes Oswald,” she offered with a shrug.

“It seems she’s not the only one.”

In the hospital room, Edward clearly placed a kiss to Os’ forehead.

“It must be nice,” Selina murmured. “Having someone who cares about you like that.”

He wasn’t sure if he was meant to hear the softly spoken words or not but either way he turned from the sight to look at her. For once, she looked vulnerable.

“If the Penguin can find someone to love him then there’s hope for all of us.”

She cast him a querying glance, unsure if he was teasing, only to meet an utterly earnest gaze.

“Yes, I suppose there is,” she breathed.


End file.
